The absence of skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) in Fortnite squads mode was for a rather short period – from May 5 to May 12. This news was confirmed by a popular data miner, FNBRLeaks after he spotted a scarcity of bots in the game. Fortnite’s developer, Epic Games had discontinued SBMM for a brief period of time to optimize their servers and making a few tweaks in the game. Shortly after, it received a lot of backlash from the gamers because of being too AI dominating. This had drained away all the fun elements from the gameplay.
Skill Based Matchmaking has been re-implemented back in Squads.
— GamingDetail (@FNBRLeaks) May 12, 2020
Why was SBMM taken down?
Fortnite, having millions of daily gamers, has amassed a huge community of professional players until now. Popular Fortnite joes like SypherPK and Tfue were very sound about their disregard for SBMM in the squad mode. It is also rumored that they were the main reason for Epic’s decision of eliminating SBMM from Fortnite.
After its removal, the pro-gamers were madly criticized for their views which led to Fortnite losing its jolly-old charm. The game lobbies would be filled with 70-90 bots at a time due to random match-making. This made the game unfair for casual gamers and beginners who were solely in this for having some fun.
Feedback from the gamers
Early on in the game, users wanted the involvement of AI to enjoy casual gaming over the more competitive gameplay of Fortnite. So Epic Games decided to give it a shot and much to their dismay, it turned out to be a bad idea. This two-way thinking of the gamers had put Fortnite in a state of limbo until the developers decided to undo the change and get everything back to normal.
Now gamers are confused, whether SBMM has truly returned to Fortnite or not. On one hand, data miners statistically claim to it being back, while popular leak sources for Fortnite like Hypex shun this news. And in all this hubbub, there has been no official statement from Epic Games themselves. But since Epic games are widely reputed for having a gamer-friendly attitude, we might be soon hearing from them.
Apart from this, Epic games unveiled the first glimpse of its Unreal Engine 5 which is going to hit the developer market with a storm. Here’s Why Unreal Engine 5 Will Push The Boundaries Of Gaming.
